D.C. Sports Bog: August 15, 2010 - August 21, 2010

(By Jonathan Newton - TWP) So Albert Haynesworth no comments his way through the week, doesn't practice, doesn't explain why he isn't practicing, then spends 90 seconds in the post-game locker room complaining that coaches misled the media on the nature of his ailment to make him look bad,...

Look, the headline above can't really do justice to everything DeAngelo Hall said in his appearance on ESPN 980's The Sports Fix on Friday. Kevin Sheehan was talking about how the continued fascination with Haynesworth is not a media-created story, but has developed from real, tangible events. He asked...

For those of you interested in the fan blog we announced yesterday, you still have time to apply. Fill out this form by 11:59 p.m. ET Sunday to be eligible. We'll contact the top candidates next week to ask for a sample blog post; the blog itself will launch in...

The past week has provided us a nice opportunity to compare a Nats crib with a Redskins crib. The three-bedroom bachelor pad shared by Nats relievers Craig Stammen, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen was featured on MASNSports earlier in the week. (Watch it here.) And the 13,000-square Loudoun County mansion...

The Washington Mystics are 20-12. If they win their final two regular-season games, they'd still theoretically have a chance to finish with the top record in the WNBA's Eastern Conference. They'd also finish with a .647 winning percentage, which would be the second-best of any Washington professional basketball team...

Remember a few days ago when I mentioned that, "due to unprecedented demand for Redskins Tickets this season," the team was changing its policy on distributing visiting player returns? And that these tickets would now be offered to waitlist members on a first-come, first-served basis? Well, "a very limited...

In September, The Post will introduce a new reader-driven blog for fans, by fans, focused solely on Washington sports. We're looking for the best, most diehard D.C. sports fans to weigh in on whatever's happening in the world of the Redskins, Capitals, Wizards, Nationals, D.C. United and the Terps. While...

"With two international signings this year, including pitcher Yunesky Maya for $6.5 million, as well as the $13.7-million they shelled out Monday for Harper, plus four - that's f-o-u-r - "above slot" signings of high draft picks, the Nats continued a 20-month pattern of spending sufficiently, though judiciously, to build...

(By Alex Brandon - AP) During last year's training camp, there were plenty of photos featuring Redskins veterans hazing Redskins rookies. Often, the ringleader was Albert Haynesworth, who delighted in tying the kids to goalposts or to each other and spraying them with water and Gatorade. And this year?...

(By Nick Wass - AP) I've noted previously that the Redskins have the oldest roster in the NFL. I've also noted that the team was judged to have the least young talent in the NFL. But here's a new one: the Redskins also have the most former first-round picks...

In years past, fans on the Redskins e-mail list have typically received mid-week notices before home games, alerting them to "visiting team returns." This meant that the visiting team hadn't used all its allocated tickets, so the Redskins were making them available to the home fans. If you went...

(By Jonathan Newton - TWP) This "Best D.C. Sports Quotes" thing is the blog post that keeps on blogging. It prompted Reader Chris, who happens to be among the smartest readers in Bog history, to send in the audio file of Steve Spurrier's final press conference with the Redskins....

In researching the best quotes in D.C. sports history, I had occasion to go back and review my item on Dexter Manley's greatest quotes. He was a soundbite machine. Almost seems like he should have been on TV full-time. Well, say no more. Dexter's Rush Hour is currently in...

A wise former editor of mine recently suggested a blog post on the best quotes in D.C. sports history. He said I should save that for a rainy day in May, but August is turning out to be more boring than I remember. Plus it's raining a lot. So here...

Amid all this talk of Nats and Phillies invasions, and John Wall being a Cowboys fan, here's a strike in the opposite direction. DeSean Jackson appeared on Shaq vs this week, an execrable program that I just had to suffer through online for your benefit. Jackson was involved in...

I thought the most embarrassing John Wall Dance reporter question had already come and gone, during Wall's introduction to the D.C. media in June. "Could you please, please do the little dance for us real quick?" one TV reporter asked, which made me feel like crawling inside my laptop...

I'm not nearly enough of a uniform savant to have noticed this on my own, but former Washington Times Wizards beat writer Mike Jones pointed out that the Wiz appear to have made some minor tweaks to their uniforms. Nothing to satisfy the teeming masses yearning for a real...

I can't say I exactly miss any specific part of the Maroon and Black Era. Certainly not the perpetual scent of impending disaster. Jim Zorn was a kind, gentlemanly, fascinating guy, but having watched his press conference in Baltimore this week about his impending return to FedEx Field...yeah, I...

Most PR pitches I receive are immediately deleted, along with all those NASCAR e-mails I still get after covering four races in the summer of 2005. But if you send me a message with the subject line "Invade Philly Back?" Well, I'm going to read it, anyhow. As you...

John Wall has been sort of coy about whether he'll actually do the dance that's named after him this season, but the trailer for NBA 2K11 is less coy. Look. There's an animated John Wall, doing his dance in a Wizards jersey. (Via @ChrisLittmann.)...

Alex Ovechkin's taste in locker-room music has been well, and and exhaustively, documented. It is, to put it simply, horrific. "Nintendo game mixed with club mixed with some Russian talking," Brooks Laich offered as a description last season. "You really wonder how anybody thinks that's good music. Anybody has...

Donovan McNabb did a trio of television interviews on Monday, giving him yet more opportunities to talk optimistically about his future in D.C. and to make funny faces at the camera. As you might recall, I'm not permitted to embed the videos here, so instead I'll provide the four...

There's a new photographic trend sweeping the parts of the Internet I hang out in when I really should be doing something more productive like pulling weeds out of my sidewalk. I call it Person Posing with John Wall. Maybe it's a famous person, like Bow Wow. Maybe it's...

I mentioned late Monday that Papa John's was offering 12 free toppings in honor of the six-touchdown Redskins preseason victory. Some readers offered comments on the offer, complaining that various Papa John's locations refused to honor the offer, or that it was impossible to successfully cook all 12 toppings....

I was kind of half-asleep around midnight on Monday, looked at my computer, realized Bryce Harper signed, and went back to bed, figuring the excitement was over. Silly me. Should have figured that any second, Stan Kasten was going to hit the general manager of the Washington Nationals in...

Alert...alert....alert....Preseason football games may contain as much deep and eternal meaning as a buttercream cupcake, but even if they don't count in the standings, they count for free toppings. Six touchdowns and a preseason win means 12 free toppings. See above. Web images don't lie. Near as my research...

Thomas Boswell wrote a typically fascinating column on Monday morning dealing with Scott Boras's complicated and important place in the Nationals organization. The focus of the column was Boras's role in the future, but there were a couple quick glances to the past, like so: Boras, who despised former Nats...

Just about everything soccer-wise on Saturday was bad for D.C. United. Early pressure was not rewarded, FC Dallas scored three times, United's only score came on an own goal, the team's captain -- Carey Talley -- came down hard on his ribs and seemed to be spitting up a...

I've seen a lot of unique pre-game taped sports segments in my life. Not sure I can recall one more visually striking than this Mike Sellers piece from Comcast SportsNet. Here's what happened, in five parts, since we're still not allowed to use any video whatsoever from Redskins Park....

(By Jonathan Newton - TWP) It wasn't easy to find things to complain about the day after the Redskins crushed the Bills last weekend. Donovan McNabb was solid. Rex Grossman looked great. Albert Haynesworth seemed to play well. The special teams scored. No one's car got set on fire...

My, but a lot of words have been written about Rob Dibble since he said those things about the two women who were sitting behind home plate at Nats Park Wednesday night. His original comments were a joking riff, delivered over multiple innings, about how much the women were talking,...

(By Jonathan Newton - TWP) For at least the second time this summer, protesters descended on Nats Park on Sunday to urge baseball to move the 2011 All-Star game out of Phoenix because of the state's immigration policies. The AP account says about three dozen people protested outside the...